Tales of the Stranded
by Arrionical
Summary: By a peculiar and unfortunate(?) turn of events, Sokka and Azula find themselves stuck in a desert with nothing but Cactus Juice and each other for company. what could possibly go wrong? Can be considered AU since they aren't trying to kill each other and are borderline civil. Originally on tumblr.


"Ugh! I could search the entire world and I wouldn't be able to find a more difficult person to deal with."

"And I'm sure I won't be able to find a more thickheaded buffoon than yourself!"

The ever elucidative and argumentative couple were currently debating over salient political matters, like the proper fixation of taxes, monarchy vs. republic as a form of government, legalization of prostitution, etcetera ad nauseum. How they reached these topics from arguing about which route they should take to reach their destination was beyond anyone's comprehension.

"Ah, Spirits! I'm so perched. I could die for a glass of water right now."

"If you died before drinking the water, there would be no use obtaining it later. Or asking for it, in the first place."

Sokka glared at her in turn, "Huh, well, what's wrong with voicing my concerns?! You really think there is a worst case scenario than being stuck out here without food or water?!"

"Yes! There is! Being stuck here in the middle of nowhere with YOU of all people! This day couldn't possibly turn more ridiculous."

"Oh really, Princess? Might I remind you who was the one who dragged the both of us out here by taking the wrong route, saying that we should 'trust her instincts?'"

"Of course it's all my fault. And what, pray tell, is the guarantee that your suggested route would've taken us to a better path? At least we are walking on a road right now, as opposed to where we would've been if we had taken your path."

"And where would that be?"

"Probably in the middle of a barren desert, infested with snakes and scorpions, doubtlessly of the venomous kind. Actually, now that I think of it, we probably should've taken the other path, I would be most grateful if one of them ended up biting you to relieve me of your incessant blather."

"HEY! That's really mean! Take that back righ-"

He would've continued with his comeback if a bit of a commotion at the end of the road hadn't captured his attention. A few burly and hard featured men were cackling wildly as they entered what seemed to be a tavern. He looked at Azula, whose eyes were fixated on the shady structure, obviously contemplating , with a look of determined conviction, she started walking towards it. Sokka grasped her wrist almost instinctively.

"What?" asked Azula, raising her eyebrows, the frustration still clear on her face.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Walking towards the first form of civilization we've seen since we took off at dawn."

"Civilisation? Yeah, right. I don't think the guys in the tavern are going to act very civil. Especially around someone like you."

"My, oh my, Sokka. Are you actually worried about someone being inappropriate with me?"

"Well… yeah?"

"I appreciate your concern." Azula bit out. "But there's no need for you to be so worried. I can handle myself well enough if I find myself in such a situation, which I doubt I even will." She added with a confident smirk.

Sokka gulped and conceded, suddenly reminded of her imposing ability to scare people with just her presence and expressions alone.

"And besides, what have I to fear if I am walking besides the very epitome of manliness himself." Added Azula, derisively.

Sokka glared at her in turn, but couldn't help the rush of blood to his cheeks, even though he knew she only intended the statement mockingly.

* * *

As they entered the small tavern, they caught the attention of many people. Sokka noticed this, while Azula just ignored them and walked towards the bar, in her usual princess-like esteem.

"Ah, pretty lady! What can I get for you?" A taut faced man asked her with a hearty smile.

"Water. Two glasses."

He raised an eyebrow at first, but thought she probably must be very thirsty, and so she asked for two. When he returned with her order, though, he understood now why she had asked for two glasses instead of one.

Sokka was seated next to her, his face lighting up at the sight of the water. He gulped the entire contents of the glass in one go, and ended up going into a coughing fit. Due to his hastiness, some of the water slipped into his windpipe.

Azula just laughed under her breath at his stupidity, but when his coughs didn't recede after a few seconds, she grew concerned. She wondered if she ought to pat his back or something. When he finally stopped she breathed a sigh of relief.

"You should be more careful. Your savagery will cost you someday."

"Oh, please.

"So, can I interest you in some of our special wines?"

Azula raised an eyebrow at the question, wondering how on earth could a remote tavern like this one have a variety of which this man spoke. Unless of course, he was lying in order to impress her because she came of as a high class woman, despite she wasn't wearing her crown or any opulent clothing. She shrugged at the her demeanor or mannerisms must have given her away.

And of course. She was right. As always.

"I'll have some rice wine, then." Said Sokka

"One rice wine coming up. And what would you be having, my Lady?"

Her eyebrow twitched at the title, and she suddenly felt an unbridled urge to strike the man's face with a fistful of fire, before revealing her true identity to him. But somehow, she managed to restrain herself.

"Blueberry wine." She said, assertively.

"I'm afraid we do not have that at the moment."

"Cherry wine, then."

"I'm sorry, my Lady. But currently we are out of cherry wine as well." Said the bartender, gulping.

"What do you have, then? Why did you ask for our choice of wine when you knew you wouldn't be able to provide for it?!"

The bartender began trembling, unable to answer to her outburst. The woman, no matter how pretty she was, had a way of frightening a person to death.

Sokka, noticing the man's growing uneasiness, decided to give him a break. "Bring her some rice wine as well." The Bartender quickly went in to get the orders, relieved to get away from the menacing glare of the scary lady.

Azula, however, was far from relieved. "How dare you order for me?!And rice wine? Rice wine is for peasants!"

"Well, Princess, a wise person knows when to not be picky."

"I don't need lessons in wisdom. Especially those coming from an impulsive and idiotic barbarian."

Sokka would've retorted at her statement, if his attention hadn't been diverted to a boy struggling to bring a loaded barrel into the tavern.

"Ah, yes. Feng Li, I was wondering what was taking you so long. Go and keep it in the storage." The bartender had returned, albeit without the wine. He suddenly realized his mistake and stopped Feng Li, reaching out for him, "Oh, and bring a jar of rice wine and two glasses." He whispered so his customers wouldn't hear him.

"Where is the wine kept?"

"In the barrel next to the table. Now, go. Get it quickly."

He watched the boy dragging away the barrel into a room with a battered door, before he was snapped back into reality by Azula. A very unsettling reality.

"Where is our order?"

"It'll be here in a minute…"

"Say… what was in that barrel?" asked Sokka, trying to change the subject to avoid any forthcoming violence that would occur if Azula's patience was to be tested any longer.

"Oh, that would be cactus juice. As you probably already know, Cacti are in abundance in this region, and cactus juice is a very important commodity, unbeknownst to many people. It has some interesting properties. It is a very powerful hallucinogen."

Azula was hardly interested in whatever nonsense the man was blurting, until she heard the last sentence.

"Hallucinogen? What need do you have for that? Do you serve that here as well, by any chance?"

"Oh no, my Lady. That is just one of its qualities. The real reason why it is so much in demand is due to its medicinal properties. I have the barrels transported to the city where it is sold. That is actually my main business. I just opened this little tavern because I wanted something to do while I lived out here, collecting cactus juice." He said, beaming all throughout his explanation.

* * *

Meanwhile, Feng Li arrived at the storage and placed the barrel in a corner with some difficulty. He then proceeded to look for the one with the rice wine, and he found it right where his employer had told him- right next to table.

Alongside another barrel of the same size and filled with a similar looking liquid filled to the brim. Now which one was his employer talking about…? Which one should he take? What if he picked the wrong one?

"Feng Li, what's taking you so long?!"came the angry shout of his employer. "Just fill the damned jug and be done with it!"

Feng Li nervously filled the jug with the contents of the first barrel, and came to the bar with the jug and two glasses, biting his lip nervously as he filled the glasses.

By then Sokka and Azula had gotten into another spat, so in order to cool themselves down they both downed their drink in one gulp. They both felt an odd taste at first, a taste that didn't relate to the familiar one of wine at all. But before they could assimilate what was wrong with their drink, a great pain shot up to their heads and they felt as though there had been an explosion within their brain. Despite the extremely unusual reaction to drinking their beverage, they felt a nasty need to have more of it. They just had to have more of it. They craved for more of it.

"More…" Azula managed to say, despite the haze of pain in her head. Sokka followed her, and soon they had finished their second serving. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth… Until the jar was finally empty.

"More…" whispered Azula.

"I'm sorry, but your jar is empty, and I don't think that such a rash amount of alcohol intake is healthy…"

"MORE!" She roared this time, effectively silencing him.

Sokka felt unsettled by the shout coming from his right. "Why are you screaming?"

"Because this buffoon isn't getting me more of my drink!"

"Well, I'm done here, so I'll head out now , and then you can scream to your heart's content."

Azula watched him walk out the front door, and felt an incredible urge to follow him. She didn't like this urge one bit, but nonetheless, she found her legs carrying her forward before she knew it.

"Wait, my payment…" started the barmen, but after Azula ignored him completely he gave up on the , he didn't want to prod the woman, especially in her current state. He was a humble bar owner who valued his life and did not wish to die what would probably be a very heated and very painful death.

* * *

"Where are you going?" asked Azula.

"I don't know. Nowhere. Anywhere."

"Why? Don't you have somewhere to go?"

"I don't know. Don't you?"

"I…think I did. But I don't remember now…"

They looked at each other, seeming to fail to recognize the other.

"Huh? Well, you can just come with me, then!"said Sokka with a beaming smile.

"Azula seemed a bit perplexed at his overenthusiastic attitude but complied anyway. But she was stopped by a couple of burly looking men coming their way. After they had taken a few steps she realized that they were specifically coming her way.

They stopped just short of her and looked at her her a manner that Azula found extremely uncomfortable before looking down on her and saying "Well, well what do we have here, Chang?"

"Some real good quality material."his companion snickered.

"So, pretty girl, how would you like our company for tonight?"

Azula failed to understand what they were actually implying. She also failed to understand why her mind was sending images of the men being in the form of a pile of ash, but she was quite sure she didn't want their company. They way in which they were leering at her made her furious though. She didn't like it one bit.

But Sokka understood, though. Somehow, he understood perfectly and an unrestrained fury took over his entire being. He was about to reach out for his boomerang when he saw that the two men were suddenly clad in blue flames.

Apparently, one of them had dared to touch

Azula with his filthy hands. The two men tried desperately to shake off the fire, but as soon as one of them managed to get rid of the flames on one part of their clothes, Azula would undo all their hard work by sending another jet of flames towards them. She continued amusing herself by making them miserable until they finally ran far, far way from the crazy Fire bending girl.

"You… you can shoot fire?" asked a shocked Sokka.

"Of course I can. And it's not called fire shooting, idiot. It's called…It's called…"

She tried very hard to remember the term, Fire-,fire…breathing?fire-breeding?Fire brooding?

Of course not. She smacked her forehead with a hand, when she couldn't, for the life of her remember what it was called. So she decided to ignore that and walked on. Sokka just stared after her before following her.

So she was a beautiful, scary, snappy and fire – shooting girl who had no qualms about setting people on fire if they troubled her, or if she just felt like it.

Interesting.

They walked side by side further down the road until Sokka sopped for a moment to admire the sky.

"Ever wondered what those little sparkly things up there are?"

"Of course I know what they are you nincompoop. They're… they're…" She realized that she actually couldn't remember what she had been taught about them. So she settled for whatever came to her mind first. "They're huge balls of fire"

"Or they could be huge balls of light."

"What? There are no balls of light. There are only rays. Have you ever seen light forming a ball?"

"Well, they could be some balls of random stuff that reflect light really well. And so they reflect it from all angles. And so it forms a huge ball of light!" finished Sokka, grinning like an idiot as he felt quite pleased with his conclusion.

"Whatever. I still think they're balls of fire"

"That's just because you like shooting your creepy fire. So you think that everything is fire! You want everything to be fire!"

"And what is wrong with fire?"

"Fire is creepy. Except fireworks, maybe. I like fireworks."

"Ah, and are fireworks not fire?"

"At what point did I deny that?"With that he dropped on the barren ground. "Y'know, back in my tribe, there are these lights, we call thm the Southern Lights. They appear in the night sky as beautiful swirls of different colours. Like a neon coloured brook making it's way through the heavens through the sky."He sighed. "I miss them."

She would've laughed at him and continued laughing if she hadn't seen the look of genuine disappointment cross his eyes. He looked so sad… his beautiful blue eyes seemed so…downcast. She knew he wasn't referring to the lights alone when he said that he missed them. She didn't want him to be sad. He was an idiot, really. But she…she felt such a strong attachment to this idiot. She really couldn't explain it to herself, let alone anybody else. She wondered if there was anything she could do it make the sadness go away. Then something popped in her mind.

She closed her eyes in concentration and shot up a jet of blue fire as high as she could. The flames made an elegant swirl in the night sky and dissipated quickly. She then allowed her emotions to take full control of her as she brought forth more flames in this manner, and this time each of them proved to be of a different colour – red, orange, yellow, green.

All this time Sokka watched the sky in wide-eyed awe. He then turned to look at Azula, just in time to see her face under the glow of the dissipating fire.

"That was beautiful." He said, at which Azula just blushed, facing away from him feeling at a loss of words for once.

"But not as much as you are." Her blush intensified at the remark, and she quickly turned her head to face him. He gestured her to sit down with him, and she complied without a word, surprising even herself. Soon they found themselves talking about anything and everything, things that made sense, things that didn't. Everything about themselves, their lives, things they wouldn't be so willing to share with the without the influence of the weird drink.

"And so I said to him 'That's a sharp outfit, Chan. Careful. You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation airship, leaving thousands to drown at sea…cause, it's so sharp!'"

Sokka just laughed loudly at the statement, amazed at the girl's ability to turn even a pick-up line into a sounding like a military strategy.

"Ah.. Princess. You seem to have a gift for uncanny pick up lines. I wonder, what would you have used on me?"

"You want me to conjure a pick up line for you now? I thought it wasn't required when it came to you…"

"Oh of course it's not, but still, I'm curious."

"Okay then…"She paused to think hard for a moment, then her face lit up when the perfect one came to her mind "Why, hello there, Sokka, I must be Ba Sing Se, because I've fallen for you. I've plummeted thousands of feet from heaven into the ocean, suffering severe damage from the impact and nearly suffocating! So, you know…I've fallen…hard."

Sokka was gaping at her the entire time, when she was done speaking, he laughed and wrapped his arms around her tightly and said, "Azula that was awesome! Well, since you intend on falling hard, I hope you won't mind if I offer to become your cushion!"

Azula just rolled her eyes and buried her face in his chest, feeling lighthearted and happy for the first time in…well, ever? She could not remember the last time she felt this open with someone. Well, she could not remember many things at the moment, because of that stupid drink, but that's besides the point.

Sokka caressed her arms gently, and gently pushed her upwards, just enough to have her face a bit closer to his. She lifted her head to look at him, and he smiled at her gently before he captured her lips in his own. She was a bit confused and bashful at first, as her mind failed to assimilate what was happening for a short moment. But after a few seconds she responded enthusiastically, losing herself in the bliss of another's arms for once.

* * *

**A/N: The pick up line is actually an original one by Grey Delisle. You can check it out on her vocaltwit.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated along with constructive criticism. This is not beta-ed, So I apologize for any mistakes.**

**Thank you!**


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